Archives: Reports
The local market was lined up for a positive and potentially quiet session with a lack of earnings or corporate news on the docket and positive sentiment from U.S markets overnight with ASX futures pointing up +46pts at 8am – it was anything but, as news broke shortly after the market opened that airstrikes were carried out by Israel on Iranian nuclear missile sites.
The ASX 200 surrendered early gains as “Trump tariff talk” weighed on the already “stretched” market. Ever since he’s heard the “TACO” phrase, the president has been talking a lot tougher. Only time will tell if the acronym is true or not, i.e. “Trump Always Chickens Out”.
Despite a U.S-China trade deal now all but done, global markets overnight and the local index today are apprehensive to move higher – the ASX tried its best to break out but ran out of steam without the specifics of the deal and both sides yet to officially sign off.
Wednesday saw the ASX 200 post a fresh all-time high at 8639 before reversing most of the early morning gains to close back below the psychological 8600 barrier.
Today marked another intra-day record for the ASX 200, though this time it couldn’t hold with the market closing -47pts off the morning high. It had a feeling of buy the rumour sell the fact as Chinese and U.S trade officials walked away from two days of negotiations having agreed on a preliminary plan to ease trade tensions, emphasising resolving issues around rare earths minerals and magnets shipping, with the U.S expecting to lift export restrictions in a ‘balanced way’.
The ASX200 posted a record close on Tuesday as broad-based buying took the index up 0.8%, with the heavyweight financials leading the market higher; the “Big Four” gained an average of 1.2%. The market adopted a clear “risk on” theme as it approached all-time highs, while abandoning some of the year’s best-performing defensives, as underweight fund managers appeared increasingly exposed to the rising market.
The ASX 200 surged to a record high, driven by strong gains in energy and banking stocks amid optimism from ongoing US-China trade talks.
Last week saw the US S&P 500 push to within 2.5% of its all-time high, enjoying the biggest jump since late May on Friday after a stronger-than-expected jobs report eased fears about a slowdown in the economy.
Even after slipping 0.3% on Friday, the ASX200 advanced 1.0% for the week, closing just 100 points/1.2% below February’s all-time high. Overall, it was a relatively quiet week as traders eyed the long weekend as an excuse to pull up stumps early, compounded by the uncertainty of Friday night’s May Payrolls numbers (jobs data) – in hindsight, there was nothing to worry about there! Although it felt quiet, it was the market’s largest one-week gain since mid-May, with the ASX200 now advancing for four consecutive weeks and set to start the fifth positively. As we approach the EOFY, it’s hard to imagine following all of the Trump concerns that the ASX200 is up +9.6% for the FY, yet another example of how equities deliver over time:
A softer session played out on the ASX today opening ~10pts up though never looked like moving higher with sellers chipping away as the index drifted down steadily through the day, closing at its lows ahead of key employment data in the U.S tonight.
